'Fiscal Conservative' Marco Rubio Won BF's GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award in February of 2010 for Racking Up Debt on Someone Else's Credit Card

Marco Rubio joined the long list of GOP Hypocrites of the Week. (George Kelly)

For many years, BuzzFlash selected a GOP Hypocrite of the Week. It was a hard decision, because there are, as BF says, so many Republican hypocrites and so little time. Marco Rubio joined a long list of Republican “honorees” in February of 2010.

Originally Published in February, 2010

BUZZFLASH GOP HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK

Welcome back to BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Oh how quickly these young Republicans mature these days! It seems like just yesterday when Marco Rubio slammed President Obama for using a teleprompter when he himself was using a teleprompter. It was sort of like, "Aw, cute. Marco's trying out his national hypocrite legs!"

He was a little wobbly, though. Remind us again, Marco, why are we supposed to care about teleprompters again?

Anyway, we're glad to see Rubio come back just a week or so later with evidence of his true commitment to the Republican virtue of hypocrisy. This week we learned that as speaker of the Florida House, Rubio spent a whole bunch of money that wasn't his. You know kids and their credit cards! The Miami Herald reported Wednesday:

U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio charged grocery bills, repairs to the family minivan and purchases from a wine store less than a mile from his West Miami home to the Republican Party of Florida...

Three payments to a Tallahassee property management group, which Rubio described as personal, were paid by the party, totaling $1,024, state and the credit-card records show.

Rubio also booked six plane tickets for his wife using the card. It was unclear how many, if any, of those trips his wife actually took; in some instances, she did not fly and Rubio was credited by the airline.

In trying to dig himself out of this contradictory hole, Rubio defended himself with what appears to be a lie (if we can trust the Florida GOP's spokesperson and the IRS). Again, from the Miami Herald:

Rubio said the party allowed him to put personal expenses on the card and the party reviewed his bill monthly.

"I was as diligent as possible to ensure the party did not pay for items that were unrelated to party business,'' Rubio said in a written statement.

"There was no formal process provided by the Party regarding personal charges.''

Party spokeswoman Katie Gordon said the card was not supposed to be used for personal expenses. "The RPOF American Express card is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses,'' Gordon said when asked about the party's policy.

Donations to parties must go exclusively toward influencing elections under IRS rules.

You'd think with the millions of dollars Rubio has made as a lobbyist, he'd be able to pay for his own personal expenses.

Of course, the teabaggers backing Rubio could defend these misappropriations easily with a sort of Robin Hood doublespeak. After all, Rubio was just taking money from the nasty ol' GOP, not the taxpayers (in case you hadn't heard, teabaggers technically don't like Republicans, at least not out in the open).

But then there's the matter of the hundreds of thousands of public dollars Rubio has spent on allegedly unnecessary staffers and to remodel his office. That was, unfortunately, taxpayer money. Oops!

It seems that Rubio's pledge to "help control the excessive and wasteful spending in Washington" doesn't extend to the supporters of his political party or those paying Florida state taxes. Too bad those are the people he needs to vote for him in the coming primary!

Then again, maybe instead of trying to blame this all on his opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, Rubio should just come clean. After all, the GOP never met a hypocrite it didn't like (except for those gay ones)!

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is Marco Rubio's first GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. Welcome to the club! You can see a list of all previous winners here.

BUZZFLASH GOP HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK